I couldn’t make it out to San Diego last week for the annual conference and trade show of America’s Health Insurance Plans. Looks like I wasn’t the only one who stayed away; attendance was down more than 17% to 2900, according to AHIP’s preliminary count.
Meanwhile, here are some thoughts about the event from Oppenheimer analyst Carl McDonald, who did make the trip.
“Not surprisingly, the mood this year is a lot more subdued given the overhang of health reform. Among the rank and file employees, there seems to be a fair amount of frustration around the conciliatory stance that AHIP has taken toward reform, as there seemingly have been a lot of concessions offered by the industry, and very few criticisms of the health reform process, other than fighting to avoid a government run health care plan….AHIP’s view seems to be that there’s no sense taking an obstructionist stance at this point, before anything is actually introduced. The risk to this strategy is that if health reform actually progresses as quickly as the Democrats hope, it may be difficult to mobilize enough opposition to the health reform bill fast enough.”
All I can say is, let’s not underestimate the folks at AHIP. They’re a savvy bunch when it comes to getting what they want.
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